Hippocrates once said, “All disease begins in the gut.” After spending decades of clinical practice and thousands of cases of chronic disease. I am confident there is some credence to that statement. It is not too often that I see a patient with a chronic disease who does not have some level of digestive dysfunction.
If you think that I am crazy then listen to the Royal Society of Medicine in the U.K who recently stated that “90% of all chronic diseases are due to infection of the gastrointestinal tract.” The Royal Society of Medicine is composed of fifty-seven of the leading physicians of Great Britain including eminent surgeons, physicians, and specialists in the various branches of medicine. No, that was not a misprint.
How often is chronic disease linked to digestive system?
90% of all chronic diseases are due to infection of the gastrointestinal tract according to the 57 expert physicians of the Royal Society of Medicine. That would be 90% of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, Parkinson’s and all the other chronic diseases!
People often think that digestive problems are only apparent if you have constipation, diarrhea or stomach ache, however, that is not the case. A digestive problem may only cause nutrient deficiencies which in turn may inhibit normal hormone production causing depression, fatigue, lack of growth, immune disorders and many, many other diseases. You may have a yeast infection in your gut with no apparent stomach pain-causing achy joints, acne, headaches, mental confusion, and many other conditions. Do I have your attention yet?
Digestive issues can lead to overmedication
Since we live in an allopathic medical society, your conservative medical physician would never correlate a digestive problem with acne…they would just send you to a dermatologist to get a cream. If you had joint pain they would never suspect a digestive problem…they would just send you to an orthopedic for an x-ray. If you had depression…you would receive an anti-depressant within three seconds of saying the “D” word. Unfortunately, those anti-depressants can cause PERMANENT damage to the brain according to some health experts.
Every day I see people overmedicated, over-diagnosed, overly frustrated with no solution to their problem because the doctor may be looking in the trunk of your car when the problem is in the engine!
Digestive issues are often behind chronic diseases
Trying to find the cause of your health problem by looking at the organ that is experiencing the symptoms is usually a failing proposition. It works in emergency medicine very, very well. Your heart stops working then they need to look at the heart. If you have a bullet wound in your leg, they should look at the leg. However, when it comes to chronic diseases such as asthma (maybe food allergies), acne (maybe gut infection), headaches (maybe toxicity), joint pain (maybe a yeast infection); then it is not as effective.
If we were to put aside those cases of people who did not have classic digestive symptoms and focus on people with the typical digestive complaints you will be shocked at how many people are affected. In 1985, between 60 and 70 million Americans were affected by digestive disorders. Today, it’s close to 100 million. In fact, digestive disorders are responsible for over 50 million physician visits and more hospitalizations than any other category of medical problems in the United States today. The total cost to the American public for all aspects of digestive disease is well over $100,000,000,000.00 per year.
Why a healthy digestive system is key to overall health
Okay here is the deal. In a healthy situation, your body has trillions of happy, healthy, and beneficial bacteria that live in your digestive system.
These bacteria support and enhance your digestion, they increase nutrient absorption and they support your immune system to fight off sickness and disease. But there are two culprits that damage this delicate lining of bacteria in your body. They are Antibiotics and Sugar Consumption.
How antibiotics harm your digestive system
Antibiotic use and high sugar consumption can cause approximately 90% of chronic health conditions because they both damage your digestive system. In most cases, when you take an antibiotic for infection it will kill the harmful bacteria causing your symptoms. The little secret that your doctor doesn’t tell you is that the same antibiotic will wipe out the 3-5lbs of beneficial bacteria that lines your entire digestive system.
Yes, antibiotics can wipe out the entire lining of beneficial bacteria and it can take years and sometimes decades to replace! Okay, big deal. Who cares about that bacteria? Well, if you start to look at the research you will see that taking antibiotics can increase the risk of many conditions including certain cancers! For instance, taking antibiotics as an infant will increase the risk of asthma. and breast cancer!
How probiotics can help your digestive system.
The damage to your gastrointestinal system can take years to fix if you do not take the proper formulation of beneficial bacteria called “Probiotics”. It is highly recommended, in fact, I would go as far as to say that it is mandatory to take Probiotics for 4-6 weeks after anyone in your family takes an antibiotic.
Those of you who have known about this and take yogurt to get the bacteria in your body are not doing your gut any justice. The yogurt only has only 5-15,000 microorganisms and one quality tablet of Probiotics will have billions of microorganisms. There is no comparison. To make things worse, yogurt is usually full of sugar which will feed the harmful bacteria and yeast that may be present in your digestive system.
We have tested hundreds of probiotic formulations over the years with digestive stool analysis. After checking the gut before and after supplementation, I can assure you that Ultrabiotic will provide the most viable healthy bacteria to repair your digestive system and improve your health.
How sugar is damaging the digestive lining of beneficial bacteria
The average American consumes 175lbs of sugar per year! Unfortunately, this sugar feeds all the bad bacteria that are fighting to take over your digestive lining. The sugar helps yeast and harmful bacteria remain strong and continue to grow, eventually overpowering the good bacteria. The fungus in your digestive system also feeds off sugar and if you eat sugar all day long you will build an army of millions of yeast spores in your intestines.
A yeast infection in the digestive system can cause some of the following symptoms:
- Food allergies
- Environmental allergies
- Sinusitis
- Asthma
- Eczema
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Vaginal Yeast Infections
- Food and skin allergies in children
- Recurrent ear and bladder infections
- Chronic diarrhea
- Autoimmune Diseases
Rules for keeping your gut healthy
- If you take an antibiotic, make sure you take a high-quality probiotic such as Ultrabiotic after the antibiotic therapy.
- If you have not had antibiotic therapy, I recommend taking one bottle of Ultrabiotic twice a year to ensure proper digestive function and optimal health.
- Cut your sugar consumption. Plain and simple. Cut out the sodas, cookies, cakes and ice cream. If you simply cut out all soda it will do wonders for your health and prevent many chronic infections.
- If you want to be really proactive than I recommend you do what I recommend my family does every 24 months. Complete a Microbiology Lab Analysis to see what is really going on in your gut. Do you have good bacteria present? Do you have a yeast infection in your gut? This helps your provider not only find out if you have latent, hidden, infections in your body but you’ll also find out which specific agents can be used to destroy the harmful bacteria or fungus in your body. The lab analysis tests different agents on the organisms that are isolated from your sample. Once you get the results, your alignlife healthcare provider can help define the steps necessary to improve your health.
Recommended nutrition for your digestive health
Ultrabiotic from Aceva is a great way to improve your digestive health! Containing fifty percent more bacteria than the label claim for maximum potency, Ultrabiotic actively works to restore the healthy bacteria lining in your gut. Maintaining healthy gut bacteria is essential for increased immune function, proper nutrient absorption, and optimal digestion. All bacteria strains found in Ultrabiotic are harvested and freeze-dried during their most active growth stage, ensuring they remain active and resilient. Many mainstream probiotics focus only on the number of bacteria in the capsule, while Aceva’s Ultrabiotic focuses on bacteria quality, age, and strain research for optimal results.
Need more tips for your digestive health?
Ask your local AlignLife Chiropractor how regular chiropractic adjustments and proper nutrition can boost your digestive health and improve how your body looks, feels, and functions.
